The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1875.

Dunstan Times, Issue 701, 24 September 1875, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1875.

Beneath the rule of men entirely just the pen is mightier than the sword.

The arrangement which has been come to between both parties in t! e House of Assembly that the Abolition Bill shall come into operation one clay alter the first session of the new Parliament appears to be the most amicable arrangement which could have been arrived at. It insures to the country that the Abolition of Provincialism will become an accomplished fact; while the details of the Bill, so far as objectionable clauses exist, can be studied by constituencies b fore any effect is given to the measure. This is just how things shou'd be, and is what we desired from the first, t' at the Abolition Bill should be carried, but knowing so little, as wo did of the clauses contained therein that its application should be deferred until t e country was permitted sufficient time to express itself upon the details. It be must a relief for everyone to kn .w that now there is no doubt about the end of Provincialism, and that an absurdity will be swept away wh’ch fo • the last few years has made constitutional government b >th a farce and an injustice. It is greitly to be hoped that our Provincial Council will not meet another session ; its last was a disgrace to the intelligence of the Province, half of the time being wasted in fighting for pay and position, and it would not be too much to say that the proceedings of onr last Provincial Parliament accomplished more for the Abolition of the Provinces than if it had passed an unanimous vote in favor of that measure. So far as ways and means are concerned thei’e can be no need for the Council to meet again upon that score, as at least two year’s I’evenue was voted away the last <ession, consequently there willbenotl ing more to expend, and we should hope there is no wish to embarrass the General Government when the Abolition measures take effect. We hear a very great deal about the Provincial Government having chastened the Goldfields with whips, hut that the General Government will chasten them with scorpions ; but the threat does not disturb our equanimity in the least. In the first place, we bnow full well that we can scarcely be worse off than at present, any change for the Goldfields must certainly be for the better, while as to the General Government making worse taskmasters such is impossible, unless they desire to destroy the mining interest altogether, and which is very unlike!v, considering the liabilities the Colony has to meet The late meeting at Skippers Point, and the passing of a vote of want of confidence there, in Mr Macke’lar’s management of the Goldfields shows pretty well which way the wind blows in respect to the rninersand Provincial mismanagement. The complaints of the Upper Shotover miners appear most just- and reasonable, and yet they are treated with scorn. Such studied neglect of the wants of an important and numerous community of people are without a parallel in the history of gold-

mining, either in New Zealand or elsewhere. The bug bear hold up before our eyes by Provincialists that the General Government will squander our Land Fund, is a mere chimera, and can have no foundation in fact whatever. It is the Provincial Government that has squandered the Land Fund, and had Provincialism existed many years longer the whole of the country would have been in the hands of the squatters. Whenever the Province was in a state of impecuniosity it was sell the lands, and which, both in large and blocks was rushed into the market in the most unseemly manner Look at the Island Block for instance, did not Mr Larnach say, in his election speech, when contesting the seat for Caversham the other day, that the Provincial Council were actually running after him to purchase it, and he made the best bargain he could for his employer, the late Hon. W. J. F. Clarke, of Melbourne, by purchasing at 14s 7d per acre, one of the finest estates in Otago. A more disgraceful spoliation of the people’s patrimony was never popetrated. The sins of Provincialism are almost innumerable, and it is with very great pleasure that we have to record that this absurdity will soon come to an end.